Sunday, January 4, 2015

On Art, Politics & Change

I don't know about any of you, but it's really getting old. Here we are in 2015 still grappling with issues like poverty, gun violence, health care, a decent living wage. Then I see bullshit like this, G.O.P. Turns to the Courts to Aid Agenda - NYTimes.com
Yeah OK, Republicans have been able to get the courts to do their bidding in the past, but President Obama is just as owned by corporations as the GOTEA Party, so really we will still be living with the same stagnant status quo. As long as we continue to play this game, like these binary parties are going to do anything to improve the quality of ordinary Americans life is nothing more than a joke. That's basically what this country has turned into. These elected officials aren't representing us. We're still fighting for oil in the Middle East, we've got sanctions on North Korea, sanctions on Russia, where are the sanctions on the US? Venezuela sanctions highlight US hypocrisy on human rights | Al Jazeera America
We do an awful lot of meddling considering our track record isn't very good at all. The system is out of control and there's not going to be any hope or change for it. Which for me, means I am going to be going in a different direction regarding politics and art. I think the only way we are going to be able to confront and foment change is through art. So I am getting my art on and and I am in the midst of finishing work and then organizing and maybe redesigning the blog, the time has come for me to do these things.
I read a really interesting article about Al Diaz, Al Diaz | As an end to mindwash religion, nowhere politics and bogus philosophies
check him out, here's a link to the article; Underground artist surfaces a generation later | Al Jazeera America
When I was in art school Basquiat was huge, but I didn't really know as much about Al Diaz, which it's nice I get to discover him now, I like what he has to say about "nowhere politics" not to mention, "mind wash religion." I've been feeling this way for a long time now, this country is in a Christian stranglehold. The thing is that no one acts like they're Christian or Christ-like, it's ridiculous.

So I got this idea about the Green Man. I was particularly interested in the Green Man as an archetype. Oddly enough he does turn up in cathedrals, which would be Christian by day and Pagan by night. It looked as if he had been co-opted by the church as a decoration or code.
Is he some legend or myth, that Christianity tried to absorb? He's such an interesting visual image, made of wood and foliage. He connects us to nature to sacred tree's and woods in ways we don't connect to nature now. I spend a lot of time in the woods in the presence of trees. I am lucky enough to live near several State forests. So while I was thinking of the Green Man I was also thinking of his Pagan roots, when we were much closer to the earth. At that time humans weren't capable of causing climate change. Back in October of last year there was a march on climate change. I think one thing we can all agree on is that in our own self interest, we should be taking better care of this planet. This will not happen as long as corporations can lobby against it. As long as we have a fundamentalist Christian sect that can deny climate change and just continue to pollute the planet, then I think we need to look at different imagery in an effort to connect with what's really important and our environment should be a top priority but it's not... and we know why. So I started playing around with Green man imagery, but I wanted something different.

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